I. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to sealed adapter for a valve of an aerosol container. Specifically, the invention is concerned with aerosol valve adapters to allow dispensing of a smooth ribbon of product and prevent dispensing of product due to premature activation of the valve.
II. DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
There are many applications where it is desirable to utilize an aerosol or pressurized container to dispense products. In many of these applications it is necessary to obtain a smooth bead of product during dispensing. Examples of such situations are the dispensing of caulks, adhesives, creams, etc.
It is also usually desirable to prevent premature dispensing of an aerosol product in order to avoid loss of product, product spoilage or clogging of the valve. A conventional valve can be activated with relative ease to sample product prior to sale or if mishandled to dispense the product inadvertently. This undesirable dispensing of the product can result in significant product waste and economic loss.
There have been several proposals for alleviating the aforementioned problems. Such solutions usually require that conventional valves be discarded in favor of radically different valve and adapter designs. These valves and adapters have not met with success since the cost of tooling the valves and adapters is prohibitive. They usually cannot be easily molded and they normally require a multistep securing process in order to fit them to containers.
Also, valve covers have been proposed as a means of avoiding product contact with the metal portion of the valve. These covers utilize elastomeric materials which are relatively soft and therefore require excess material in order to obtain sufficient rigidity. This renders then an insufficient solution to the aforementioned problems.
The present invention is advantageous in that it provides a valve cover or adapter which prevents premature activation of the valve. Further, the adapter is inexpensive to manufacture and highly reliable. Also, it forms the product into a smooth bead as the product is being dispensed from the container and provides a product seal which prevents valve clogging.